Draw nigh to God, and
he will draw nigh to you.
James 4:8a
There
is something that God requires of us,
And he answering
said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as
thyself. Luke
10:27
Reality Check: God pursues a continuing love relationship
with us that is real and personal.
What
is the one thing that God wants: to love the Lord our god with all of our heart, mind soul and
strength.
We
can’t fully love and appreciate God without believing who He is,
And this is the will
of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him,
may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. John
6:40
This
is the will of God to believe on the one that was sent; His son.
God’s
very nature is love.
God
began a relationship with us before we even realized it. He extended Himself to us through the
sacrifice of His son before we were even aware of Him.
For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
That
was an act driven of Love! No wonder the
greatest commandment is to love! That is
dominant throughout the scripture.
God
created us for eternity; not just time.
God doesn’t deal with us in time but for eternity. However, we have lost a sense of eternity and
a sense of accountability which causes a lack of focus.
God
is at work in all areas and in all people of our world and He is pursuing them. When
God starts to work in our world, He pursues us with a love relationship.
Herein is love, not
that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10
God
is love
And we have known and
believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in
love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:16
God
by His nature is perfect love and can only express himself in perfect love;
otherwise it would negate his very nature to act otherwise.
The
perfect example of His love was found on the cross – God never comes to you
except through His perfect love.
Whom
the Lord loves, He chastens . . .
For whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Hebrews
12:6
God
knows far better what sin can do and so God, out of His love for us,
disciplines us.
We
should ask our self: Is my quiet time
the only time I can encounter God? The
response is no. God is our life and we
want to have a living relationship with Him that we cultivate all day long.
Just
to have a ‘quiet time’ with God is not enough.
We should have it but that is not the extent of our relationship with
God.
If
we could never experience God without a natural example, we would be in bad
shape. We can look to the scripture to
see the example that God set and follow that.
Let God tell you what He is like and let Him show you in your life.
But Thomas, one of
the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him,
We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands
the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and
thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were
within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood
in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach
hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust
it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My
Lord and my God. John 20:24-28
Thomas,
who doubted Jesus after the resurrection, had an experience of a lifetime that
no doubt changed his life forever.
Don’t
be afraid to step out in faith and challenge your experiences to show you God in
the midst. It is the only way your
relationship with Him will grow.
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